Lost and Found
by 10th Muse
Summary: Another Halloween Short Story! This time, Spencer Reid becomes lost looking for a little boy. Eventually he did find him or did he?


**Criminal Minds**

 **One Shot Story – Lost and Found**

 **.**

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He looked right, and left. Nothing. He had lost his cell phone!

"This is just great!" He muttered.

Breathing hard in the cool night Spencer Reid saw his breaths streaming as if he had been chain smoking.

"Morgan! JJ!" He looked beyond the incoming fog but knew he couldn't see anything.

Logic struck within him; he was lost.

In the large apartment complex, he had no clue where he was!

"Come on guys! This is not funny, Morgan!" He called out, he knew his partner Derek Morgan was known to play pranks on him, especially tonight of all nights! Halloween.

He had been looking forward to attending a Halloween party with a group of close friends when the BAU team was called out on a case; a missing boy case, in connection with a known serial child kidnapper/killer.

Realizing that the fog was building up to his waist now, and visibility was becoming minimal, Reid turned around and headed back to where he came from; he felt that it was most reasonable to backpedal as he couldn't see what was ahead of him, and given he had lost his cell phone, he was completely alone.

Reid had accidentally become separated with Morgan when they were searching outside the dumpsters.

"This is just great. Alone and out of reach of Garcia." He mumbled as he walked when he suddenly pitched forward!

"Oaf!" He landed onto the moist grass so hard, he felt his teeth jarred against each other. "Son of the -!" He tried to contain his anger and fear as he grabbed whatever he could and felt something...a soft mound.

"Hello."

Startled, Reid scrambled away from the sound and looked up, "Who's that?" The voice sounded young, and male. "Where're you at?"

"I'm right here. Who are you?"

Getting up to feet, Reid brushed his hands and turned and saw to his surprise, a boy about 12 years of age standing before him, "Oh hey, what are you doing? Isn't it kind of late for you to be out here?"

The boy shrugged, "I guess so, but what about you? You're out late too."

Spencer frowned at him, "Yeah but I'm looking for a missing...er, child..."

"Oh? Who is it? Can I help?" The boy's eyes brightened.

"I don't think so, you should be indoors, back in your home. How about if I take you back?"

Looking deflated, the boy's shoulder slumped and looked down, "Yeah, I guess so."

"Where do you live?"

He pointed ahead of him, "Over there in that apartment building, but please don't tell my momma." Reid and the boy began to walk to the direction of the building. The boy continued to talk, "I'm not supposed to be out late but I was helping that man looked for his lost puppy. He said he'd give me twenty bucks if I can find his puppy! I hoped to find it! If I have twenty bucks, I can buy my momma a birthday present! It's her birthday tomorrow. I wanna get her a nice dress. She never have anything nice 'cause we never have no money." He added sadly.

Reid paused, "What's your name, kid?"

"Charles Roger Thurgood II. Or you can call me Chuck, everyone calls me Chuck."

Reid realized that this was the missing boy they were looking for! "Chuck!" He nodded, "Do you know everyone's looking for you?" Reid turned to him excitedly.

The boy frowned, "Really? But I've been here all this time!"

Reid shook his head, "Your mother's worried about you...let me take you to her." He held out his hand.

Chuck shook his head, "But what about the puppy?"

"What about it?"

"I have to help the man find his puppy, Mister, and he promised that he'd give me twenty bucks." He looked disappointed.

It dawned on Reid that the man was their serial killer who had been luring kids with the promise of money and using the ruse of lost animals.

"Chuck, can you tell me who this man is?" Reid asked him.

"Oh yes, that's Mr. Washington." He nodding enthusiatically. "He lives in apartment 2A. He's kinda creepy but he lives by himself. Momma always tells us kids not to go to his place. But me and Jimmy seen him with some young girls." Chuck shrugged.

Reid nodded, "Thanks, Chuck, I'll take you to your mom. You've done great." Reid smiled as he patted the kid.

Chuck beamed proudly, "Now I can get my momma a new dress and she'll look pretty."

Reid smiled as they reached apartment 6B and knocked.

When the door opened, he was surprised to see Derek Morgan on the other side.

"Morgan! What're you doing here?"

"Reid! Where have you been? We've been trying get ahold of you!" Morgan stepped out of the apartment and closed the door behind him, but not before Reid saw some Law Enforcement Officers in the apartment with a woman who was crying inside.

"I dropped my phone in the dumpsters and hey...guess what? I think we found our serial killer!"

"You have?" Morgan looked at him, surprised. "Who is it?"

Reid nodded, "Thanks to Chuck here." He turned to point at the kid and frowned as he looked about the hallways and he was nowhere in sight. "Chuck? Chuck!"

"Reid!" Morgan reached out and touched him on his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"Chuck, he was with me...I found him, and I'm taking him back to his mom."

Morgan frowned hard at his partner, "Reid, what're you talking about? Chuck...the boy's dead. We found his body by the dumpster. The LEOs are in there with his mother."

Reid shook his head, "No...no, that's impossible! He was just here...I talked to him! He told me he's helping that man in 2A...the serial killer, he's the one who's killing the kids!" He began waving his hands all over and above his head.

"Reid, Reid! Hold it, we'll get on it!" Morgan nodded, and pulled his phone out and made a phone call.

Twenty minutes later, Edward Washington was arrested on charges of ten child abductions and ten murders, including Charles Roger Thurgood II, whose body was found in the nearby dumpsters building.

…...


End file.
